Swear to Me
by Professor Specter
Summary: Visions... of Kuronue's death prior to the raid... the chimera sees his fox partner weakened... and asks to know why. Full summary inside.


Swear to Me

This came to me after watching the movie a gazillion times… To-ni-kaku… Youko has been plagued with visions of Kuronue's death in their upcoming raid of a demon castle, and cannot decide to tell his chimera partner. But Kuronue has noticed him weakened and asks for the truth. Is Kuronue's fate forever changed? YoukoxKuronue or KuronuexYouko, depends on how you look at it

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Kuronue: It's good to be here, Professor Specter.  
Specter: It's just Specter, like Gatem-sama was just Gatem. And I'm glad to have you!  
Youko: He's says he'd come other times, but you weren't available.  
Kuronue: I'll always be available for you, fox…  
Specter: I'll just do the disclaimer then.  
Kuronue: Yummy, let's go out Youko!  
Specter: **watches them leave **This is weird… I have to do the disclaimer myself. Here goes. **clears throat **I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho. I just don't. I couldn't, wouldn't, can't, shant.  
Hiei: On with the fic.  
Specter: ACK CRAP! Hiei, when did you get here?  
Hiei: I'm going to be mean and make you figure that out yourself.  
Specter: …To-ni-kaku, here are some things you readers may wanna know in advance: in another story I have called 'Silver, Onyx, and Gold,' there is a different theory for Kuronue's protection of his pendant, so don't go by this when you read that one. Next, there is a mention of an Orb, and haha, it's the Soul Stealing Orb, and once Youko and Kuro stole it (and left it around cause they got bored), Koenma decided to put it under lock and key.  
Hiei: You're forgetting something.  
Specter: Urusei. As I was saying… the silver coating Kuronue mentions is a weird thing I came up with, something that he wanted to steal for himself actually—to harden and sharpen his scythes, not like they dull… wearers/wearer's is an actual word… and if you have any questions, feel free to ask in your review. There will be no ending commentary. Enjoy.

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……………………… _Urusei, Kuronue…! _………………………

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It was an easy steal, but a hard escape. Just the way his raven haired partner liked it. The demon palace had many guards, but all were inferior to the two youkai thieves. The chimera youkai danced with his scythes, slaying all attempt to stop the kitsune youkai that effortlessly cracked the code for the Golden Mirror. He turned around and joined the fight with a rose born whip, laying out the next wave of demon guards flat. In under five minute after their objective was retrieved, they had gone though at least ten thousand guards in their quest to escape. Finally, they were free and racing away; kitsune running on the earth, the chimera using his wings to leap beside his partner until they forced into the surrounding bamboo jungle.

Both on foot, the two partners alternated steps ahead of one another in their neck and neck race. In a moment where the chimera was ahead, the kitsune spotted the treasured pendant swinging from the others neck. He smiled a little admirably; his partner had killed many before they first met to protect the demon stone. He dwelled on the memory for only a second as right before his eyes, the gold chain snapped. The chimera youkai gasped. In his next bound, he landed on a bamboo stalk that bent and shot him after his pendant. The kitsune halted and turned back.

"Urusei, Kuronue!"

"I need it!" returned Kuronue, not looking back. He only grabbed his pendant when it happened. There was a shower a bamboo leaves, swirling precariously around Kuronue then…

_**SNAP!**_

A laid trap set into motion. Bamboo stalks sharpened at both ends rained down. The third stabbed the chimera's left leg. Kuronue gasped in pain as other stalks caged him in. There was a blast of light from behind.

"KURONUE!" The fox demon watched the hollow earthen pipe gush his partner's blood like water. He started toward him.

"Forget about me Kurama! Run!" Kuronue shouted. "Save yourself!" Kurama watched in horror as Kuronue started into convulsions and collapsed, bending his struck leg into a more painful position. Kuronue tried to stifle his cry of pain.

"I will not leave you!" shouted Kurama fiercely. But saving Kuronue was hopeless; even if he could free him, he'd lost too much blood.

"Save… yourself… Youko!" Kuronue gasped. "Run, now!"

"Kuronue…!" The whisper of his partners name was weak, saddened… heartbroken… With his swiftest prowess he possessed, he ran up to the chimera and reached out to him. Kuronue's hand touched Youko's and then he was gone.

**REALITY**

"Won't leave… Kuro… no, no… I can't leave…!" The kitsune youkai tossed weakly in his sleep. His silvery hair fell over his face as his sensitive fox ears folded back. On his forehead was a wet cloth and covering his body was a thin black blanket. A pale, slender fingered hand took the cloth and dipped it in a bowl of water beside the fox demon. It returned it gently on the warmed skin.

"Kuro…" the fox continued to mumble. "Kuro, no… I can't…"

"Kurama." whispered a soft voice. "Kurama, wake up…"

"Ku-Kuro…" Youko's eyes blearily opened. "Kuronue?"

"Yes my friend, it is Kuronue." Youko's sharp yellow-golden eyes revealed themselves as the fox ears unfolded and tuned in the sounds of the night. The last thing he remembered was falling, his foot swept up something…

"Ah, Kuronue!" Youko made an attempt to sit upright. Kuronue helped support him. "What happened to the Orb?"

"We got it." Kuronue assured. "When we were coming back you stopped."

"Again?" Youko sighed, staring into the ties of Kuronue's black vest. Funny how they wore an inverse color wardrobe, both of which stood out or blended some time or another. Kuronue preferred black to match his raven locks, but with flair; he accessorized with a unique—half destroyed in the fox's eyes—hat, boots too big thus literally tied to his legs, oddly enough a lavenderish colored sash skirt that was cut up on one side, and black ribbons twining around his arms. And of course, he had the pendant.

"Pendant…" Youko murmured, gaze lowering to his legs hidden beneath the blanket. Silver-white slippers sat at the end, matching the other articles of his clothing; pants cuffed at lower shin and sleeveless tunic tied with a sash belt leaving two tails—the back one which actually let his fox tail poke through.

"Kurama." Youko turned his gaze back to the chimera. "You've done this three times now. We were lucky you actually got out of the bog this time before you stopped. It's almost cost us some of my silver coating and your ears." said Kuronue a little sternly. "You must tell me what is wrong, my friend… Your mind has become clouded and distracted… you've paled to an almost sickly color… and your element senses one of its masters is weak… Look around Youko." The fox didn't need to look to know he was right; he sensed the wood surrounding them drooping as if diseased.

"We shall not thieve until this passes." Youko could see his partner was serious. He nodded and tried to sit up further, resulting in an immense pain shooting up his back. He hissed and arched falling back to a laying position when Kuronue caught him. "Fight it, my friend, as best you can" Youko took a strained breath, and gazed past Kuronue to the stars.

"I have visions… nightmares… of what is to come of our raid to retrieve the Golden Mirror… We are successful of course, and claim the mirror." Kuronue did not hide the confusion in his features.

"Then what is the matter?" the chimera asked. Youko's clawed hand reached out and lay the red Makai stone in his hand. A small, sly little smile from Youko told Kuronue what he meant. "And?"

"And you go after it of course. You love this pendant. It is when you go and get it… you are caught… in a trap… your leg…" The red fluid gushing onto the parched earth flowed into Youko's mind. "It bled like a river… and you told me to leave you behind… to abandon you…" Youko turned away and trembled.

"Did you leave me?"

"I didn't want to Kuro… but I did… I left you despite what my heart and soul wanted to do…" breathed Youko weakly. He let the pendant rest against its wearer's skin, but left his hand against the exposed flesh. He leaned over with a coughing fit, blood seeping over his lip and down his chin. Kuronue gently stroked his partner between the ears, making the already warm fox body over heat from the sensual touches of another clawed hand.

"If you had told me to run if you were trapped," started Kuronue once Youko ceased coughing. "I would've, even if I'd regret it forever. I think you made the right choice."

"I don't. Let's not go to the demon palace."

"What? We've planned our theft for months now…!"

"…Then… swear to me… that you will never tell me to abandon you…" The half closed stare Youko gave Kuronue pleaded for him to agree. Kuronue's eyes softened and he nodded.

"And of course, I want the same from you." Youko nodded.

"I swear it," they said in unison.

"I couldn't abandon you… regardless…" said Youko. He leaned into Kuronue, who wrapped his arms protectively around the warm fox body. For a while, they remained in the quiet night, entwined in each other. The rustling trees, no longer tainted with the air of sickness, gave lips to sound the whistling wind, and the Makainese crickets sang in their strange voice; all sounds of the night soothed the two youkai thieves. It was short lived; moments later, Youko tensed and curled over in pain.

"Youko?" Kuronue started, worry written on his face as he eased his partner back into a laying position. Youko groaned and arched with unnatural grace. "Youko! Daijoubu ka!" Kuronue said urgently, leaning over the fox. With the chimera's help, he slowly came out of his arch and his breath slowed to quiet panting.

"Kuronue…" murmured the fox, opening his yellow-golden eyes. "Sleep with me… please…" Kuronue overlooked the bluntness of his question; he knew what his partner meant. Love… as Kuronue had questioned whether he wanted… was dangerous in Makai, even more than in Nigenkai and Reikai combined. Even their partner status—having not betrayed one another or attempted to kill each other in their time—was dangerous. But who were they to be scared of at the outcome of a feeling of intensity like that? This is Kuronue and Youko Kurama!

Youko moaned quietly as fresh blood spilled over his lip. Kuronue enwrapped himself protectively around his convalescing fox partner, and once he stopped moaning, he leaned over and licked the blood away.

**FAST FORWARD**

"Easy steal, hard escape. Just the way you like it."

"Ha, and why not? You like it the other way around, only after I told you I liked the hard escapes," laughed Kuronue. The two demons halted at the ending open boundaries of the palace. Kuronue would have to begin to run on foot, lest his wings get caught. Youko watched his partner fold his wings in as he ran a claw over the Golden Mirror's surface. When Kuronue was satisfied, he nodded at Youko and they set off.

Youko ran in the same slightly weaving pace he had in escaping the castle, with Kuronue gaining pace leads with alternating bounds. Youko's haunting visions came flooding back as he watched Kuronue's pendant swing back and forth around his neck.

'_Could it really come true…?' _Youko thought, watching as if it was in slow motion, the pendant swinging to the left. He held a baited breath, then in a split second, reached out for it, to grab it if it did break. Almost instantly, he was rewarded with a tinkling of breaking gold.

_**Crack.**_

Youko was shell shocked, allowing the stone to slip through his fingers, then it's wearer as he set off after it seconds later. By the time he had stopped and turned around, Kuronue was already far ahead of him.

"Urusei, Kuronue!"

"I need it!" Youko was spellbound, unbelieving that his nightmare was becoming reality. Kuronue slid low to the jungle floor and swiped up his pendant as the bamboo leaves began to rain down in the swirling pattern. Kuronue spread his wings to speed his run to get out of the trap he now knew was there, but even he wasn't fast enough. Simultaneously, Youko had started toward his partner as the chimera youkai looked up to watch the trap in motion around him. He didn't even see the first stalk rain down and hit his left wing. The forceful blow threw him forward as another bamboo spear stabbed through his right leg. He gasped, wide-eyed, becoming encaged in the flurry of stalks. An explosion flooded where he stood with light.

"KURONUE!" Youko shouted, still coming toward his partner. He threw the mirror like a shuriken right above where Kuronue had knelt down, but it only shattered against the dead earthen wall. The pieces fell back on a newly transformed Youko, now with his six tails billowing out behind him. He leapt at the cage, feeling his partner's blood pour on his face. With the force of a bullet the fox shattered through and tumbled onto Kuronue. He snapped the stalk in his leg and gently but quickly removed the one from his wing. Kuronue fell with a grin on his face, a fainting sigh escaping his lips as he collapsed on the fox formed Youko. The kitsune grabbed Kuronue's pendant in his mouth. He saw the castle guards approaching fast, but he was faster. He howled a fox cry—quieter than a wolfs, but this time more fierce—and sped off into the night, leaving no trace of kitsune or chimera behind.

Youko climbed the last few feet up to his and Kuronue's lair hidden close to a mountain top where they could easily watch prey below. The kitsune placed a ward of implotability over the entrance. Kuronue slid off the fox's back, still grinning though painfully. Full coat and five tails vanished as Youko reformed.

"Hey… Youko…" whispered Kuronue, grinning. "It, still happened…! Augh!" The chimera's leg started to tremble violently and he reached out both hands to still it. Around his hands wrapped Youko's, Kenrai—a bone mender plant—wrapped between his knuckles. From his own silver bangs dripped his partner's blood, but he paid no heed.

"It will mend the flesh, then it will embed itself around the wound to regrow—"

"Kurama, stop." Youko looked disbelievingly at him. Kuronue took his now bloodied hands from his wound and held Youko's close to his heart. "Look at me… look at my wing…" From Youko's swift escape, something had snagged it at the puncture and ripped from there down. "My flying days are done, and without flight, my thieving days are disrupted. And besides, my wings are like limbs, they're a part of me… I can't let them die alone." Youko's gaze shifted to the torn wing. There was nothing to be done; they repelled all such aura. "Youko." Kurama brought his gaze back to his partner. With his attention, Kuronue disadorned his black hat and unraveled the black string holding his high ponytail up. The affect was startling; he practically mirrored Youko, only black. The fox could only stare with a growing passion to resist clasping Kuronue's vest and pull them together. He had only begun to feel the deep attraction to Kuronue when his visions occurred… only when he realized how much he would miss the chimera youkai when he was gone… the ties of their partnership had knotted tighter that either had noticed in their time of rising to Makai's most wanted.

"My clan is each given a pendant when they become of age," said Kuronue, holding up his own by the ends of the broken chain. "But it was not meant for them. It was to be a ceremonial gift of sorts… A gift to present to their lover." Kuronue's hand still on Youko's could feel them clench ever so slightly. "And tonight I needed it most… because tonight… I wanted to give it to you." Youko brought up his left hand to accept the treasure his lover gave his life for. Kuronue's hand trembled; he moaned and weakly leaned forward.

"Easy Kuro…" whispered Youko, supporting him, his eyes fighting the welling up of tears. He turned the demon stone in his hand and gazed at it. Kuronue returned the feelings he felt… and more. He was willing to give anything to keep his symbol of his love to Youko safe. "Kuro… I don't know what to say…" Kuronue's hand stroked Youko's silver locks, a small smirk playing at the corner of his lips.

"Please… just say what I want to hear… tell me the truth…" whispered Kuronue, almost pleadingly. Youko stroked Kuronue's raven locks and leaned closer. "Youko… tell me…!" Youko filled the space between them and pressed his lips against Kuronue's. At first he came on him softly to limit his surprised reaction at the others affection.

"I love you Kuronue," Youko murmured. His hand stroking the raven mass pushed Kuronue to him as his lips captured the other in a deeper, more passionate kiss. Kuronue returned it with all the strength he had left as his arms wrapped around Youko's neck and the fox leaned him on his back. Lack of air got to them; Youko broke the kiss for a moment, brushing his lips over Kuronue's as both caught there breath before deepening once more. They weaved inside the hot cavern of each others mouth, tongues dancing in precision just like when they thieved and fought enemies. Kuronue drew back and allowed Youko complete reign as he arched up into the kitsune body. Moments later, Youko tasted blood and felt a chill in Kuronue's lips. Youko pulled away watching as Kuronue's head painfully tilted back, blood running down his chin.

"Kuro… Kuronue…!" Youko whispered, tears now full in his eyes.

"Thanks, Youko…" Kuronue breathed. "I couldn't ask for a better lover…"

"No… Kuronue, don't give up… live!" But even as pleaded for the other to stay with him, he had known when Kuronue stopped him from healing his leg that he was going to leave, and never come back. "I love you… live…" Youko's warm tongue lapped up Kuronue's blood as he watched the chimera youkai slow in breath.

"I… love you too… Youko… swear… and seal it… with a kiss…"

"I swear it," they said in unison. Youko kissed Kuronue again, tears flowing freely from his yellow-golden eyes.

"Kuronue…" He flashed a final grin. "Kuronue!" Indigo eyes rolled to the back of his head and his arms slid from their position around Youko's neck. The kitsune became frozen as he felt the aura of his lover vanish. Even time seemed to stop.

'…_He's gone…'_

His claws gently brushed away stray raven locks out of Kuronue's closed eyes. Was it punishment for their crimes that he hadn't realized his love till the very end…? To become lovers only to have his love leave momentarily after…?

"Kuro… nue…" It was hard to say his name without bringing about another wave of tears… though this time, they would have been hot with fury. Youko picked up his lovers corpse and waved off the ward over the entrance. He carried him to the mountain top not far above their den. He glared at the moon, and despite everything, let the next wave of angry tears fall and gleam in the pale light. A single word echoed over all of Makai that night.

"**_KURONUE!"_**

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End file.
